Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum
Photo: Own work — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, showcases Buddhist art and culture, housing a tooth relic of Sakyamuni Buddha.
Planning your visit
The Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum is built around a relic: a tooth said to be the Buddha's, presented to the monastery by a Tibetan lama in 1998, which prompted the construction of the entire complex to house it. The result, completed in 2011, is enormous — a central hall flanked by eight pagodas along a processional avenue, closed at the far end by a 108-metre seated bronze Buddha on a podium, one of the tallest such statues anywhere.
The scale is the immediate impression, but the museum proper is substantial: galleries of Buddhist art, sculpture and manuscripts, exhibitions on the life of the Buddha and the spread of Buddhism, interactive material aimed at general visitors, and cinemas showing films on Buddhist themes. The approach is educational and outward-facing rather than devotional, reflecting Fo Guang Shan's humanistic Buddhism, and non-Buddhist visitors are the intended audience as much as pilgrims.
Admission is free. The adjacent monastery, Taiwan's largest, can also be visited. Vegetarian food is available on site.
It sits outside Kaohsiung in Dashu district, around forty minutes from the city. Allow half a day; the walking distances within the complex are considerable. Bookable options are private Kaohsiung city tours including the museum with transport. Current availability is shown below.
Before you book
Where is Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum?
Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum is in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The map on this page marks its exact location.
How long should I allow for Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum?
Allow half a day. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum in advance?
Private tours are arranged for a set date and time, so they need booking in advance.
